Woonsocket Radio News Room

Editor's Note:  Along with the following press release from the State of RI Recycling Agency comes a note from Woonsocket Mayor Baldelli-Hunt's Administration that even though the state will no longer allow you to recycle shredded paper from curbside, the City of Woonsocket will accept it at their Municipal Facility.

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Please find attached a media release from RI Resource Recovery detailing their new policy not to accept shredded paper in their collected recycled items in curbside collection. The City of Woonsocket will continue to accept shredded paper in clear plastic bags at the recycle facility at 943 River Street. -- City of Woonsocket

Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation Removes Shredded Paper from Mixed Recycling Program 

Rhode Island residents are encouraged to utilize drop-off options and attend free community shred days sponsored by Resource Recovery

JOHNSTON, RI– To combat rising levels of contamination, Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation (Resource Recovery) today announced shredded paper will no longer be accepted in Rhode Island’s mixed recycling program. While shredded paper is being discontinued curbside, Resource Recovery will continue to accept shredded paper, secured in a bag, at their self-serve Small Vehicle Area (SVA) located at 65 Shun Pike in Johnston. In addition to the drop-off container, Rhode Island residents can attend shredding events, compost shreds in backyard compost bins, or dispose of them in the regular trash.

In a competitive marketplace which demands higher quality raw materials for manufacturing new products, preserving the integrity of Rhode Island’s recyclables is a top priority. When Resource Recovery launched single-stream recycling in 2012, shredded paper remained an acceptable material in the mixed recycling program. Unfortunately, the method of double-bagging shredded paper has not been sufficiently effective. While many properly prepared bags have been successfully processed, the overwhelming majority of shreds are not properly prepared. Even when properly prepared, overly compacted recycling trucks can cause bags to break open. When bags break, the loose shreds cover the other recyclables which lowers their value. Keeping shreds out of the mixed recycling will greatly improve the quality of the 450 tons of recyclables that Resource Recovery’s Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) processes each day.

In addition, the elimination of paper shreds should also significantly reduce the volume of plastic bags in the recycling.  “The two biggest contaminates in our MRF, by far, are shredded paper and plastic bags,” says Krystal Noiseux, Education and Outreach Manager for Resource Recovery. “For the safety of our workers, longevity of our equipment and quality of our recycling, our messaging going forward is clear and simple: No shredded paper, and no plastic bags, bags of plastic bags, or recycling inside of plastic bags, ever.”

To provide residents with more opportunities to properly recycle intact sensitive documents, Resource Recovery is replacing their annual shredding event with four free Community Shred Days. Rhode Island residents who want to shred sensitive personal (i.e. not from a business) documents can bring up to two, 22-gallon recycling bins’ worth—free of charge—to Shred RI located at 2111 Plainfield Pike in Johnston on the following days:

June 17, 2017, 8 AM-12 PM  July 8, 2017, 8 AM-12 PM  September 16, 2017, 8 AM-12 PM   November 4, 2017, 8 AM-12 PM

As a reminder, a sensitive or confidential document is one that contains a unique, identifying number that can be traced directly to a specific person, and which cannot be found readily through public searches. For example, a person’s name and address is not considered sensitive, confidential information. Junk mail can be recycled whole.

For more information about Community Shred Days, and what you can and can’t recycle in your bin or cart, go to www.rirrc.org or call the recycling hotline at 942-1430 x775.